“Clarity is hard to come by. I believe in paths, and I have set myself upon mine. I believe in openings, like signals toward extraordinary possibilities. I hear it in a susurration of birds, a large flock I cannot identify moving overhead at sunset. Their calls billowing over this valley. As I listen, intently, I lose the sound and find myself enrapt by a thought. A new thought. The sound takes me somewhere then brings me back. Aren’t we all feeling some dread sorrow? It seems to me the birds echo the restless ache that I am only free of when I am sleeping, and even then—but, as I watch those birds in stark silhouette against the sky I never fail to see a brief opening. A sudden lustrous disclosure. Others are listening and watching the winged creatures with the same awe. Together we watch the dark-swung canopy open and we, because we feel lifted, we know, you and I, the weight of our lives.”
—Vievee Francis